Gaston College makes pitching lineup shuffle, picks up DH sweep against non-league opponent

Gaston College coach Michael Steuerwald tinkered with his lineup a bit going into Wednesday's doubleheader at Caromont Health Park against Gordon State (Ga.), a NJCAA World Series qualifier a year ago.

He changed up his normal pitching rotation, giving true freshman Emma Ghorley the first start of her college career and holding out another prize freshman, Abigail Brewton, for possible late-inning relief.

The idea was to give the Rhinos a spark, and the lineup juggling seemed to pay off in a doubleheader sweep of the Highlanders, 6-2 in comeback fashion in game one and 2-1 in a tense, pitching-dominant game two.

"We have not been playing our best ball, so we were trying to see what we could put together to spark us back to where we were a couple of weeks ago," Steuerwald said.

Ghorley, a Highland Tech product, went 6 1/3 innings to get the win in the opener, with Brewton retiring two batters in the top of the seventh to close out the game.

Outside of one pitch, which the Highlanders' Emmalyn Gable hit out of the park for a third inning two-run home run, Ghorley (2-0) delivered like a veteran in the circle. She gave up five hits, allowed two earned runs, struck out seven and walked one.

And the Rhinos (23-4, 17-2 at home) saved the game for Ghorley by staging a six-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 2-0 deficit.

Alayna Patrick and Dakota Marshall proved to be the offensive sparkplugs in the wins. After Gordon State starting pitcher Katelyn Munoz controlled Gaston College's lineup through five innings in the opener, Patrick led off the bottom of the sixth with a base hit.

Grace Kealy followed the biggest blow of the game, a towering double to left field that was out of the reach of Highlanders outfielder Reagan Waller.

Kendall Bradshaw's single scored Patrick to get the Rhinos on the board, and Ghorley reached on a throwing error at third to bring in two runs and give GC its first lead of the game at 3-2.

The Highlanders' defense broke down at that point as the Rhinos applied pressure. A couple more errors, combined with an RBI single to left by Skye Harrington, plated three runs to push the lead to 6-2.

Abigail Gawlinski got the pitching start in game two and limited the Highlanders to a solo run through six innings, scattering three hits while walking one and striking out seven.

With the Rhinos up 2-1 to open the seventh, Brewton spelled the starter and sent Gordon State down in order, catching Skyler Evans looking a third strike for the game-ending out.

In the bottom of the sixth, Marshall jump-started the Rhinos with a lead-off single. She stole second base and scored on a throwing error to break a 1-1 tie.

In the top of the sixth, Ghorley, playing first base, turned in a critical defensive play with a diving catch of a line drive to end the inning with the potential go-ahead run at first base.

While the Rhinos were not as productive offensively as they have been, Steuerwald heaped praise on the pitching.

"Abby G (Gawlinski) did a good job of attacking the strike zone and mixing in some of her pitches and keeping them off-stride the whole game," Steuerwald said.

"And Emma (Ghorley) going 6 1/3 innings against a World Series team was huge. It was a lot of fun to see. Brewton came in and was lights out to close out both games."

The Rhinos hit the road this weekend to play East Georgia State in a Saturday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.